Moroccan Jews

Moroccan Jews
יהדות מרוקו (Hebrew)
اليهود المغاربة (Arabic)
Jews of Fez c. 1900
Total population
> 1,000,000
Regions with significant populations
 Israel900,000[a][1][2]
472,800 (born in Morocco or with a Moroccan-born father)[b][3]
 France>50,000[4]
 Canada~27,000[5][6]
 United States~25,000[7]
 Spain~11,600[8]
 Venezuela~6,000[9]
 Brazil6,000[10]
 Morocco~2,250[11]
 Gibraltar700[12]
 United Kingdom567[13]
 Argentina500[14]
Languages
Hebrew, Judeo-Moroccan Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Haketia, Judeo-Berber, French, Spanish.
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Jewish ethnic divisions, particularly Maghrebi Jews and Sephardi Jews

Moroccan Jews (Arabic: اليهود المغاربة, romanizedal-Yahūd al-Maghāriba Hebrew: יהודים מרוקאים, romanizedYehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were later met by a second wave of migrants from the Iberian peninsula in the period which immediately preceded and followed the issuing of the 1492 Alhambra Decree, when Jews were expelled from Spain, and soon afterward, from Portugal. This second wave of immigrants changed Moroccan Jewry, which largely embraced the Andalusian Sephardic liturgy, to switch to a mostly Sephardic identity.

The immigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel has occurred throughout the centuries of Jewish history. Moroccan Jews built the first self-made neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem (Mahane Israel) in 1867,[15] as well as the first modern neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias.[16]

At its peak in the 1950s, Morocco's Jewish population was about 250,000-350,000,[17] but due to the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel and other nations, including Operation Yachin from 1961 to 1964, this number has been reduced to approximately 5,000. The vast majority of Moroccan Jews now live in Israel, where they constitute the second-largest Jewish community, approximately half a million.[3] Other communities are found in France, Canada, Spain, the United States and South America, mainly in Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

The affection and respect between Jews and the Kingdom of Morocco is still palpable. Every year rabbis and community leaders across the world are invited for the Throne Celebration held every 30 July in Rabat. During the celebration in 2014, Rabbi Haim A. Moryoussef of Canada dedicated his book "Le Bon Oeil - Ben Porath Yossef" to the King Mohammed VI and offered him a handwritten blessing on parchment wishing him a healthy, long and successful life.[18]


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  1. ^ "اليهود المغاربة وازدواجية الولاء". BBC Arabic. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  2. ^ Moroccan Jewry in Israel set to commemorate 60 years of aliya, The Jerusalem Post (August 25, 2019).
  3. ^ a b "Jews by country of origin and age, 2010". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  4. ^ "נתון אחד ביום: רוב יהודי מרוקו חיים בישראל". Davar. April 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Toronto". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde. Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  6. ^ "Montréal". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde. Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Moroccan Jews in the United States". Visiting Jewish Morocco. 24 January 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Les Juifs marocains en Espagne". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde. Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  9. ^ "Les Juifs marocains au Vénézuela". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde.
  10. ^ "Les Juifs marocains au Brésil". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde. Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  11. ^ Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish population, 2012, p. 62.
  12. ^ "Les Juifs marocains à Gibraltar". Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  13. ^ "UK Government Web Archive". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  14. ^ "Les Juifs marocains en Argentine". Les Juifs marocains Dans Le Monde. Mimouna. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  15. ^ Kark, Ruth (1987). "Moroccan Jews as founders of Mahane Israel" (PDF). Yad Bar Tszi. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-09. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  16. ^ Gaon, Moshe David (1927). "History of the Sephardi Jews in Israel". Hebrew Books. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  17. ^ "Morocco film searches out Jews who left for Israel". Al Arabiya. Associated Press. 27 February 2013.
  18. ^ M, Nat (20 May 2015). "Le Bon Oeil". Congregation Yossef Haim.

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